Lab reflection

For my 412 class, it was split between lecture and lab times. I feel that without the lab section of this class, I would not have learned as much. It gives you the hands on aspect and gives you the chance to see what it takes to put a lesson together.

I feel that the labs could have gone better if we were to present more than 20 minutes of content. Also, if we would have had more than one person reviewing it with us. I like the fact that classmates were able to watch the video and reflect but having someone that has done it before or is currently teaching at a high school giving feedback would have been better.

My favorite lab was my demonstration lab. For this lab, I did putting PVC pipes together. During this lab I was able to show my skill for basic plumbing along with show how I would be in the shop.

My least favorite lab was the creativity lab. I feel that this was not worth the money. It was a good idea but I am not making any of the items that I bought part of my lessons.

Overall, the lab section of this class was worth it.

Lifeknowledge

Over my Christmas break, I was able to do a lifeknowledge lesson with my Ag Leadership class. This class consist of students ranging in grades from 9-12. The class is basically made up by the FFA officer team plus 3 other students. I was asked to do a lesson on team building. Mrs. Fry said that the officers are like her and like to work on their own and need to work on communication with each other.

For my lesson I decided to do more activities then lecture. I had about 5 minutes of lecture and then the rest the students got to do activities that showed them that for anything in life, you need to communicate. My first activity was for them to draw a picture and explain it. Students did okay with this. I was not as clear on directions as I should have been but it worked out after I explained it better. For the second activity, I had a displayed hid. The students were to pick 1 looker, 1 runner and the rest of the group puts the display together. This went really well. Half way through, I switched roles. This is when things got interesting. It really showed who was able to listen to what others were saying along with who was good at giving descriptions.

Overall my lesson went okay. I wish that I would have had more lecture. I think that it would have gone better if I was able to pick my own topic and not have to use life knowledge. Overall it was a great experience and gave me the chance to get to know students that I would be teaching.

Weekly Writing #5 - Evaluating Learning

Evaluating Learning Through Rubrics

According to Stoughton and Myers, rubrics are tools that are created to help assess student performance ina  more reliable, objective and consistent manner. Rubrics are used to establish guidelines and help ensure that all assignments are consistently graded equally to each other.

There are two types of rubrics: generic and task specific. I personal like the task specific rubric. This type gives you the steps that need to be completed when creating a project such as a woodworking project.

Stoughton and Myers also state that the use of rubrics allows for a greater accountability and reliability in grading and offers a structure and guidance to students as they create their projects. It gives students the inside look into what the teacher is expecting from them.


Evaluating Learning Through Portfolios

This is another great way to evaluate students. It is used by students demonstrating their learning thorugh a collection of their work through-out the whole school year. According to Warner, the framework for establishing the criteria for the portfolio is the following:
1. Use a concept map to acquaint learners with the
content that will be assessed.
2. Determine the setting (e.g. workshop, in the
field, at an individuals home, etc.) where the
content will be applied.
3. Referring to the concept map, identify the
specific concept or sub-concepts that will be
assessed.
4. Clarify the work samples that should be included
in the portfolio. These samples may include, but
are not limited to the following:
 Literature review of the concept being
examined.
 Documentation of the laboratory
investigation (full reports and/or Vee
maps).
 Journals detailing the thoughts and
observations of the student related to the
laboratory investigation.
Visual representations of the laboratory
processes and results.
5. Develop and disseminate the criteria used to
evaluate portfolios.

Weekly Writing #4 - The Problem Solving Approach

Problem Solving Skills is a must/need to know skill that all employers are looking for in their employees. Students in the agricultural field learn these skills through many opportunities in the FFA. With FFA being part of the three circle model in Agricultural Education, the skills are learned through the classroom/laboratory portion of the model as well.

The problem solving approach followers Bransford's Ideal problem solving model which includes:
1. experience aproactive situation
2. defining the problem - clarifying the question to be answered
3. seeking data and information
4. formulating possible solutions
5. test possible solutions
6. evaluating results

These are all achieved by 

• interest approach
• objectives to be achieved
• problems to be solved or answered
• test solution through applications
• evaluation of solutions or assessments 

To sum it all up the problem solving approach has been used for a long time. (reminds me of the scientific method). It gives the students the skills needed to work in a real life job.

Reading Reflection #3 - Individual Teaching Techniques

Individualized Teaching Techniques

Individualized teaching techniques allow the instructor to work one-one with students. There are a number of techniques including the following: supervised study, experiments, independent study, student notebooks and information/worksheets. These techniques are used to help the students grow by growing their interest. They have the chance to build upon prior interest and discover new. This is a way for students to show the ways that they learn best.

When I get into teaching at Selinsgrove Area High School, I plan to use individualized teaching techniques more than anything. My students all have access to laptops which gives them the opportunity to research and do their own projects. I will also have my students keep a notebook with daily objectives and learning key points.

Reading Reflection # 2 - Principles of Teaching and Learning

For this reading reflection we were required to read the Principles of Teaching and Learning and Group Teaching Techniques in Newcomb's book. The first chapter focuses on the 16 principles of teaching and learning. There are as follows:

1. When the subject matter to be learned possesses meaning, organization and structure that is clear to students, learning proceeds more rapidly and is retained longer.
2. Readiness is a prerequisite for learning. 
3. Students must be motivated to learn
4. Students are motivated through their involvement in setting goals and planning learning activities.
5. Success is a strong motivating force.
6. Students are motivated when they attempt tasks that fall in a range of challenge.
7. When students have knowledge of their learning progress, performance will be superior to what it would have been without such knowledge.
8. Behaviors that are reinforced (rewarded) are more likely to be learned.
9. To be most effective, reward (reinforcement) must follow as immediately as possible, to ensure that the student connects the desired behavior with the behavior they have performed.
10. Directed learning is more effective than undirected learning.
11. To maximize learning, students should inquire into rather than be instructed inthe subject matter.
12. Students learn what they practice.
13. Supervised practice that is most effective occurs in a functional educational experience.
14. Learning is most likely to be used (transferred) if it is learned in a situation as much like that in which it is to be used as possible and immediately preceding the time when it is needed.
15. Transfer of learning is more likely to take place when what is to be transferred is a generalization, a general rule, or a formula.
16. Students can learn to transfer what they have learned; teachers must teach students how to transfer laboratory and real-life situations.

The most important message that I took from the reading this week is to try and remember all 16 principles and include them in every lesson plan. 

Also clarity is the number one choice/action that a great teacher must process 

Central Mountain Micro Teaching

Two weeks ago I was able to put my teaching skills to the test. I taught 3 days at Central Mountain in the floral design class. The prep for this lab consisted of writing 3 lesson plans on how to make floral bows. Grant it, this was not my first idea that I came up with. I originally thought that I would go over the principles of design, the color wheel and then have the students work on a triangular floral design. However, I was turned down with to the fact that the students already learned this. Ms. Hack gave me the idea of teaching floral bows.

The idea seemed like to would be easy but the more I started to prep for it I had a hard time coming up with new things to do every day.

My first day, I had a PowerPoint on the different types of ribbons and why floral bows were used. I wanted to have an example of all the types of ribbons to pass around to the students but was not able to find them so I had to show pictures. After the PowerPoint, I told the students we were going to go out to the shop to practice making bows. I did not have any key words for when the students were to head out so they started right away. I was able to grab the students attention and explain before they left the classroom. Once out in the shop I showed the students how to make the bows using the V-board approach. This went great, but a lot faster than I thought it would. Some of the students started to make bows differently. Since I did not have this planned, and I was not 100% sure on how to do it myself. I pulled the other students in to do the demonstration for me.

My review for the first day went better than I thought it would have. I got excellent or very goods in all most everything. Before I was given my feed back, I was asked to state how I thought I did. I started off by saying that it was not good and not how I wanted it to go. However, Johnathan told me differently.

The second day, I started off by showing the students a you tube video on how to make a puffy bow. Once the video was done, I sent the students back to the shop to practice that. I explained that after they had perfected the puffy bow I would give the a handout with instructions on how to make different bows. I wanted to see how the students followed directions and use a different way of presenting the information. This worked out for the most part. I did have one student say that she can't learn from reading a piece of paper. So I showed her how to do it while she read the instructions to me. Then I took my bow apart and made her do it. I also had other students helping others out when I could not be in all places at once.

The review for the second day went good as well. I was given some great feedback that went along with what I was thinking.

The third day was my worst day I think. I did not have as much planing in it. I started off with the quiz. I split the class into two. Ms. Hack watched half the class take the written part of the quiz while I had the other half in the shop. The students had to make a puffy bow for me by themselves. After that, I then switched groups of students and did it again. After the quiz was done, I had every come to the shop and we made a magazine bow. This by far was the best part of my teaching experience. The students were engaged the whole time and interested in how to make it. Once again I had a girl who knew how to do it so she took half the class and taught them.

I learned from this experience that preparation is key. I also learned that I strive more in the shop setting then in the classroom lecturing.

My feedback from my students was a mixture of comments. They ranged from being more prepared to do not change anything you did great.